Dangers of ear buds

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Another teenager has died due to the audio ear buds he was wearing.
The distraction the small headphones produce, and the long term health effects, are taking their toll on teens.
And anyone who has a teenaged child knows the dilemma.
You never see them without two wires dangling from their ears.
And you see the stories often, like this weekend.
An 18-year-old boy was killed near Houston when he was hit by a train he never heard.
Because he was wearing ear buds.
The reasons are pretty clear.
With these things in your ears, all other sound is excluded.
So when you’re driving, cycling, walking, you just never hear danger approaching.
But take it from someone who wore headphones for too many years in radio…there are other dangers.
Like, the tinnitus or ringing in the ears that I suffer.
“A lot of the audiologists are starting to see a large influx of early hearing loss people wearing headphones all the time and too loud,” says Dr. Holly Blanco with Trinity Mother Francis Health Systems, and she says the danger threshold can be reached sooner than most kids expect.
“You should hear what’s going on around you all the time, and hear conversations,” she says. “And if you can’t hear it then it’s too loud.”
And the decibel levels will surprise you.
Power tools hit 98 decibels.
Lawn mowers usually reach 107 decibels.
A jet aircraft emits 140 decibels.
But music devices are around 115 decibels.
With ear buds, it hits 120.
Sounds above 85 decibels, can begin to cause hearing damage.
“The recommended limit is to limit headphone use to 60 minutes a day or less,” Dr. Blanco told us. We have to be more careful because it’s setting us up for trouble.”

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